


ruby

by ottermo



Series: As Prompted [48]
Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Gen, Human/Synth Switch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 14:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13859229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ottermo/pseuds/ottermo
Summary: Human/Synth Switch AU: Leo and Max investigate the strange behaviour of their new Synth, who says her name isn’t ‘Ruby’ after all.





	ruby

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Week 2, Day 7 of the Humans 4-Week Challenge. The prompt was ‘Human/Synth Switch AU’
> 
> ‘Ruby’ was the name of Lucy Carless’s character in Sea Fret, so I borrowed it.

“Dad said not to mess with her head,” Max said from the doorway, watching as his brother connected the family’s new synth to his laptop. 

“Mmm,” Leo agreed, “But he also said ‘Mimi’s in charge while I’m gone’, so unless you’re going to tell on me to her, I don’t think you can stop me.”

He looked round at his little brother and grinned. “Come on. You can help.”

“Really?” Max’s deep brown eyes lit up in excitement. Being the youngest of five siblings, he was often being told that he was too little to help with things. Or, if he was allowed to ‘help’, it was just in rubbish ways like bringing them drinks or keeping watch at the door. 

He scampered over to the table, and looked at the numbers and letters on Leo’s laptop screen. He didn’t know much about coding, but he decided not to remind Leo of that, in case the offer was withdrawn. “What can I do?”

“Keep watching that top line of numbers, and tell me if it changes,” said Leo. “I’m going to power her up and ask her some questions.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s a weirdo,” Leo said, as if it should be obvious. “And I’m going to find out why.”

Max accepted that reasoning and fixed his eyes on the top line of code, although personally he didn’t think there was anything wrong with Ruby. Dad had let him name her - after his friend at school who’d moved away, though with a reminder that she wasn’t a replacement in that way - and she had always seemed really nice, to Max. She read him stories, and played with him when he was bored.

He was quite often bored, because quite often Mia was at work, Fred was practising his piano, and Leo and Niska were off doing something they said wasn’t For Little Children. So Max liked having Ruby around, even if she was a bit of a weirdo, for a synth. 

“Are you going to hurt her?” he asked, anxiously.

“No,” said Leo. “At least, I don’t think so, since synths aren’t supposed to _get_ hurt.”

“She got hurt rescuing Fred from the lorry,” Max pointed out, feeling very wise.

Their father had almost returned Ruby to the shop not long after purchasing her, and Fred had chased after the car as fast as he could, almost getting run over in the process. Ruby had thrown herself in front of a lorry at the crucial moment, giving Fred time to swerve off the road.

“She was _damaged_ ,” Leo corrected him. “But it didn’t _hurt_ her.”

“Okay,” said Max. He wasn’t sure what the difference was supposed to be, but sometimes it was better to just let Leo think he was right. 

Leo tapped Ruby’s chin and she blinked awake. She smiled. 

“Hello, Leo. Can I help you with anything?”

Leo leaned forward. “Who did you belong to, before you came to us?” 

“I had no previous owner. I was purchased from Persona Synthetics fourteen days ago. Prior to that, I was not in service.” 

“What if I said I didn’t believe you?”

“I’m sorry, Leo,” said Ruby. “I’m afraid I—”

“…don’t understand the question. Yeah, I got that. Thanks.” 

Leo looked at Max. “No change?”

“No. It stayed the same.” 

Leo leaned over, and swivelled the laptop towards him. “Okay. If playing nice won’t do the trick…”

Max watched as he copied a wall of text from another window, and pasted it into Ruby’s root code. Both of them looked at the synth. For a few moments, nothing changed. Then, suddenly, her face became animated, more human. Her mouth gaped open in what looked like horror, and her green eyes were wide with fear. 

Leo was startled, and leaned forward to try and shut her down. Ruby caught his wrist in the air, and said, urgently. “Help me. I’m in here! You have to help me get out!” 

Max looked at Leo in despair, wondering what they were supposed to do. Leo couldn’t move, because Ruby had grabbed his other hand with hers when he’d tried to get to her chin a second time. 

“Turn her off,” he said to Max. 

Max didn’t want to. He couldn’t stop looking at Ruby’s terrified face. “I can’t,” he said. “We have to help her. Ruby? How can we help?”

She turned her head. “My name is Matilda,” she said. “I’m a conscious synthetic, and this body is mine, but the Ruby personality keeps trying to delete me. You need to find a woman called Laura Hawkins. She’ll know what to do. But you’ll have to—” 

Her eyes suddenly glassed over, and her face relaxed. Her posture returned to normal, and she released both of Leo’s wrists. 

“I detected a rogue element in my root code,” she said, pleasantly. “It has been purged it now. Can I help you with anything?” 

Max and Leo looked at each other. 

“No,” said Leo, slowly. “No, we’re… we’re fine.”

He stood up from his chair and began to back out of the room. “I’m going to find Mia,” he told Max. “Don’t stay with her alone. She’s faulty, she might be dangerous.” 

Max didn’t stand up straight away. Instead he looked into Ruby’s eyes and said, “We’re going to help you, not the other way round. I promise, we’ll get you out.” 

Ruby looked back at him, blankly. “Do you want me to go outside?”

“No,” said Max. “You can stay here. I just mean…”

But it seemed that the other person, the person living inside Ruby’s head, had completely disappeared now. Max patted her hand where it rests on her knee.

“Never mind,” he said. He slipped from the room in pursuit of Leo, hoping that Mia would know what to do.


End file.
